Playing Around: Basil Reid

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Reggae fans can add yellow, black and green to their Fourth of July red, white and blues on Friday. Native Jamaican Basil Reid will be bring down the spirit of Jah with a mixture of original tunes and some Bob Marley covers at Tres Hombres in Woodland Park. "The messages in my songs speak about love, peace and unity," said Reid with his thick, gentle Jamaican accent. Don't think that Basil's just a latter-day troubadour of a dead style, though. His album Prayers (Tuff Gong International) is full of wonderfully weird digital dub blips, boings and swirls, old-school dance hall beats, lush backup vocals, and a refreshingly genuine positivity on original tracks like "Baby Birds" and "Prayers."